Does Dr Tim’s actually work?

stanleo · Mar 15, 2020

I started my QT about four days ago and used filter media from my main tank and dosed it with Dr Tim’s I’ve nitrifying bacteria. I dosed a small amount of ammonia to make sure it was safe and four days later it is still reading 1ppm Ammonia with API drops. I used the same test kit on the main tank to make sure the kit was still good and it reads 0 on the main tank. I am not showing any nitrite and I haven’t done a nitrate test yet. I would think the ammonia reading would have at least gone down by now if not be zero. What gives?

stanleo · Mar 15, 2020

I should mention the tank already has a layer of diatoms

stanleo · Mar 16, 2020

Seriously, does anyone have any ideas what is going on here? It’s been five days and things have not budged. Ammonia is still 1ppm

brandon429 · Mar 16, 2020

post a pic so we can see how your surface area is distributed with the flow in the tank containing the ammonia

in a typical reef, its immediate contact/waste vs surface area. rocks and sand present bac to all water sources.

I saw a questionable stuck cycle post with an empty 50 gallon, and only marine pure in the sump...takes a while to expose all tank water through that mp block all isolated away, lets see the layout here

no cycles stall in reefing, its all in how you present loading to that surface area. the filter was already seeded from main tank; no extra room for bottle bac to attach

stanleo · Mar 17, 2020

brandon429 said:
post a pic so we can see how your surface area is distributed with the flow in the tank containing the ammonia

in a typical reef, its immediate contact/waste vs surface area. rocks and sand present bac to all water sources.

I saw a questionable stuck cycle post with an empty 50 gallon, and only marine pure in the sump...takes a while to expose all tank water through that mp block all isolated away, lets see the layout here

no cycles stall in reefing, its all in how you present loading to that surface area. the filter was already seeded from main tank; no extra room for bottle bac to attach

brandon429 · Mar 17, 2020

that hob chamber is full of typical pads and wool?

those two roller filters are pretty good surface area, probably enough for typical use for a fish or two. If this was my tank I would test it like this:

do a full water change.

take a pic of the ammonia test after/calibrated zero from this tank, not by another tank.

dose liquid ammonium chloride to 1 ppm, a bare change on the ammonia tester, post pic.

in 24 hours if it goes back to calibrated zero you are ready for a light bioload, if it stays, you need to add more surface area/circulation across it, not more bac. They're limited on attachment space, more bac is wasteful. I bet it will pass a calibrated test above

ammonia tracing threads are tricky due to unstated variables, you can't believe how often one param/nitrate makes them misread for other params, and how additives like Prime cause false readings across the board. the surface area or test kit is in doubt, not the bac, above we calibrate for all risks with the initial water change which makes the final measure solely what bac stuck to surfaces are doing.

DWill · Mar 17, 2020

I cycled my reef with Dr. Tim’s and ammonium chloride. It was done in two weeks. I cycled my qt using the same method… 6 weeks and it still wasn’t cycled. Its a 10g tank with a 40g HOB filter. I finally put a sponge filter and a piece of dry rock in it and it cycled within the week.

it because of there’s not enough surface area. There’s a article on Dr. Tim’s web site related fishless cycling QT tanks that will help. You need surface area.
another you could do is use those old school plastic bio balls in a filter sack. They won’t absorb meds and they are cheap enough you could throw them out when your done.